Coking process.



ataented Oct. 20, 1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

L. L. SMMBRS.

GOKING PBOGESS.

APPLIGATIDN FILED MAY 1a, 1 3.

v suitable LELAND L. SUMMERS, OE? CHI COKING ROCESS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed Mey i3, 1913. Serial No. 767,352.

T allie/1011i, 'it m 11;/ con-,fwn

Be it known that I, LuLANn L. SUMMuRs, fr citizen of the United States,and residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook und Siete of Illinois,have invented certain new und useful improvements in loliing Processes,of 'which the following is a speciiicution.

The object of my, invention is to provide a process 0I" coking by meansof whichan improved fuel may be produced. My. process 1s particularlyadapted to coals of high oxygen content and or" high vvolatile content,which are diiiicult toy treat in the ordinary processes.

Generally speaking, my improved process is carried on in a retort suchshown i'n my Patent- No. 951,786, in which coul is fed to the retort atone end and conveyed therethrough, the heut being appliedl from the t'opso that the productsl of distillation arising from the carhoneceousmateriel pass to- 'Ward the source of heat.

- With these objects in view, my invent-ion consists in the featureshereinafter described and claimed. In the drawings, Figure l is unelevation, partly in section, of u retort showing one Way in which myprocess may he carried out. Fig. 2 is ziI cross section of the retort onthe line 2-2 of Fig. l. Fig. 3 is u plunview, partly in section, of theretort, on the line 3-3 ig. l. Fig. 4 is u view similar to Fig. l,showing a modified arrangement.

Referring' to the drawings, Fig. l shows a retort through which thecarbonuceous Inaterialis conveyed on a reciprocating iloor, actuated bye ram 3, the curbonaceous inaterial being fed to the retort from the binl.

The cnrhonaceoue material in passing.

through the retort is subjected to the action of an external source ofheet, provided by the overhead heating' ducts e' in the arch and thiscarhonaceous material, after being conveyed through the retort, isdischarged into the hopper 5, all as more fully shown and described inmy Patent No. 951,786, March Isth, 1910.

The overhead heating ducts may be heated with producer gas, excess ovengas, or directly by a furnace as may be desired.

Y As shown in Fig. 3, there is arranged at :L point enleans forwithdrawing the hot ,gases from the oven, consisting of a duct 10leading from the oven to a recuperetor l5 'whence the v'pass throughpipe 152t to the condenser 6,' the exhauster l7,`returning shown in Figdthese .inlet d its are provided with noz?. e 3 und the duets herecoinnion header i), connected with the inlet pipe i8. The grecs heatedto the de: temperature by their per 'ig through the ducts issue throughthe no/.xles S in the duct 7 und then rise und (lieti-ihr through thecool portion the eerhoinu e nuit-1 rial, intermediate 'the irefhiy 11;:Id uniterial and the more hield); lie:i.ed portions thereof. The pas-urough hieporion of the curhonuceous materiel ut u teuwerutuie ol hout800 degrees to V100 decree` 'irenheit. This admission of het gu ,rf:nite iu u more uniform heating or the curimnueeous material nt thispoint than is ohtuiued when the heet derived from the overhead uri-lionly. There is consequently u 'more perfect dirstillution of the richerhy(irmrurhous :itihis rpoint, the resulting distiilute containing :L.large amount ot rich tur und also u inexiniuin amount of rich hydrocurhou ses such. es methane, ethuue, ete, l); the -nzixing of the hotenses with the g i fing die! tilled, 'the ditiliite proi'luete nre iluedund the rich ters ure protected from deeonrposition. A further result ofthis uniform hruting of the curhoiuiceo'usA muerizd ie limi theeerbouoceoue nmteriul :it this point assumes the plastic condition more.iniioruiiy so that there will he in the retort, iirsi. the ireshlycharged imiter-inl, Second, u s-ie'z'iiou oi' mutt riul in the plasticcondition, und heyoiri this, umn'ou'chiug the discharge end oi' theoven, Vthe more completely rolied material,

.is the reciproco! floor is ultermier udrunced, und withdrnrfu to fe-wlfresh mute riul into the oven. there results :i compresysion of thenmierizx 'iie inuieriui :drcudy iu thi oven lacing held from luukuzzrdmovement. :is desrrihed in my former luleul No. 951.796. so tliut thatportion ol' the inzieriul which is in the )dustir condition is highlycompressed. reeuliuu iu :i denser "oke li' desired. the duels T. Fig. l.muy he extended further into the oven us indicated at i'l und providedwith nozzle| D connected eXternuily through :n sepurute inlet pipe 5)Fig. l, with un independent heater 21,

through which e portion of the hot ceses may he Withdrawn through thepipe 21B. These gases being highlif'heated may he passed through themore highlyv heated portions of the colting material and at' atcmpcratnre sntl'icioni'I to canse z, final distillation from thismaterial, the ily-products resulting troni this distillate may he `withdrawn' through suitable outlet pipe llho products ironi the distillateat the lower temi'ierature being withdrawn' through the pipe .ln Fig.fl, l tied form.4 of oyen for Carryingv out my process. in which theheating ducts 7 are not connected externally, hut e'itend throughout theretort and areprorideel near the discharge end with nozzles 14 and nearthe `.eliarge end with, nozzles S as hetero' described. The centerportion of the conveyer floor at 13 is slightly elevated so that thecarhonaceous material-at thisrpoint 'will he densely packed, separatingthe charge and discharge portions of the retort.

The hot gases are inserted into the oren trom the pipe l?. connectedwith the' reen- Iperator and pass in Contact with the incandescent archand downward through the nozzles, any snitalolesuotion devices beinglirorided 'for this purpose. These gases' then pass toward the chargeend of the retort,

through the duct 7, and are discharged through the nozzles 8 nowardthrough the .cooler `portion of the carhonaecous material, eansino; 'thedistillation of the volatile prod- :ets' of the eoal as heiteredescribed, the distillate being vithdrawn through the oven through theoutlet 24.

ln each of these forms of my invention the earhonaceous materialentering the re'- tort from the hin l and being carried forward hy thereciprocating 'Hoor of the oven Q is subjected to the action of the hotoases from the nozzles After having distilled. from it the tar and richhydro-carbone, the carhonaceons material in a plastie condition iscompressed by the operation of the conveyor floor 2, and this compressedplastic material' is Carried forward and sul)- ;ieeted to tort-her heataction, either from the hot gases enteringihy means of the nozzles 8s'or oy the descending current ot hot gases, the eventual result being` tofurther distii. the 'products roin the compressed earhonaceons material,which is snhseoiiently discharged into the hopper 5 at the discharge endof the oven.

The advantages of this process are that when applied to' a continuouscoking prooess Where the charge of eoal is moved continuously forwardtoward hotter portions of the oren or retort, an improved Character ofcolte may he obtained as the circulation of gas through the coal may beat a low enough temperature to give a maximum yieldof tar and other'rich hydrocarbons have shown a slightly modiintense 4and the coal mayhe caused to assume a plastic condition by proper adji'istinent of thetemperature. llj'hile this plastic condition exists, the coal may hecompressed so thatl a fuel of great density may be formedandsubsequently this fuel is moved forward into-a hotter portion of theoven or retort, and the remainder of the Volatile Inatter, or anyportiondesired, may he distilled hy the higher temperature. Thisdistillation inay be accomplished by the direct heating of the retort or-by increasing the temperature of the cireulatin'g gases to such anextent as to canse the direct'volatilization of the Aliydrocarlionsremaining inthe compressed fuel, or of any desired portion olf them. Theresulting fuel. obtained will then be a. compressed coke in'whioh thereremains the desired quantity of volatile matter but which has .beencaused to assume a dense forni hy means of the compression while in 'aheated condition, and a harden` ing of the iuel by the Subsequentdistilla-l tion to the desired. extentof the volatile products from thecarhonaceous material.

.Y Further advantages of this process are that in the .lowtemperaturedistillationof eoal it is possible to recover valuable lighterhydrocarbons which are distilled ott only at low or moderate temperatureby maintaining` a ymoderate ,temperature durf ing the period they aredistilled, decomposition of the products is prevented. external heating.of the retort, the first aotion is the heating of the portions of fueladjacent to the retort, there beinga considerable time element, involvedin the trans- In any l' mission of the heatlrom the portions adunheated'portions of the fuel, the general tendency being to irstorm shrd cokeJaeent to the walls of the retort toward the i next to the heatedsurface While thennheated co-al inthe more remote portions of the chargehas not Vreached a lplastic conf'l dition. There will, therefore, be thec0ndition of a hard eolie, plastie serni-eokmand` heating ot thematerial Willresult, and the lower volatile hydrocarbons vmay be dis-viilled at practically the temperature at itfhich they are liberated andthe ilecoinpo-v 4sitiori of' the lighter products willY he a minimum. lothe distillation otcoalat .low

temperatures, aportion. only of' the volatile J matter is driven oft,and this portion oonvtains the rie1 et tar and the richest`hydrointresse carbon gas; tnis temperature, however, there is n. verylow yield o" ammonia. There is n distinct advantage in subsequentlyhealing' the materiel to higher temper etere in order to recover thisvaluable iiyprorlnct. ln the recovery of ammonia, 1t is molecule ofnitrogen which Tvithont velue.

'v in the presence of heated ezrboneeeons nire terinl hydrogen 'williunite freely with the nitrogen and will greatly increase the yielr s ofammonia.

lVhile l have descrioeil n specific wey in which my process nrw heCarried out, it is to be understood that i not intend to be limited tosuch specific methods, my improved process may be carried out in otherways.

l claim:

l. The herein described process which Consists in feeding eerhonnceousmaterial. to :in externally heated closeii retort7 insorting gasesheetefi to e pointsnfieient to cause the carboneeeous materie-ite assumethe plastic rendition into the freshly charged portion of the material,cnnsing the gases to travel through the Jfreshlyr charged materieltoward the source of heat, and conveying the material through the re'tort. f

2. Tl'ie herein described .process which consists in feedingeeroonec'emis material to an externnliy heated closed retort, insert'ing into the freshly charged portion of the materiel hot gases tekenfrom e .more fully ooired portion of the material nearer. the clisehargeend of the retort, causing' said gases to travel through the freshlycharged portion of the. material toward the source of heet7 anclconveying the material through the retort.

3. The herein described proc/ess which consists in feeding'erirhonaeeons material to n cioseci retort heated so es to cause theprod-- nets of distillation to pass toward the source of heat furtherheating an intermediete portion of the material' between the freshlycherged nieterialnnd'the more fully eoked portion of the charge to cansethe intermediate portion to assume nifori plastic condition and thencompreoing tirointermediate portien between the reshiy chargeclmaterialand the more fully coked portion of the charge.'

LELAND L. SUMMERS.

liitnesses:

E l. boo'rr,

